XVIII
Hunc Britanniae statum, has bellorum vices (bellorum vices: ‘the shifting military situation’) media iam aestate (aestate: of 78 A.D.) transgressus Agricola invenit, cum et milites velut omissa expeditione (velut omissa expeditione: abl. abs., lit. ‘the campaign being omitted, so to speak’; freely, ‘as if the campaign were cancelled’) ad securitatem et hostes ad occasionem verterentur. (verterentur: the passive of vertere has the middle sense of ‘to turn one’s mind to’, ‘to look forward to’) Ordovicum civitas (Ordovicum civitas: a tribe in NW Wales, near Mt. Snowdon) haud multo ante adventum eius alam in finibus suis agentem prope universam obtriverat, eoque initio erecta provincia. Et quibus bellum volentibus erat, ([ei] quibus bellum volentibus erat: lit. ‘those for whom the war was for them willing’) probare exemplum ac recentis legati animum opperiri, (animum opperiri: ‘awaited his intentions’; opperiri, like probare before, is inf. of narration.) cum Agricola, quamquam transvecta aestas, sparsi per provinciam numeri, praesumpta apud militem illius anni quies, (quamquam …praesumpta apud militem illius anni quies: ‘though rest for that year was taken for granted by the soldiers’) tarda et contraria bellum incohaturo, (tarda et contraria bellum incohaturo: ‘delays and obstacles for him about to begin a war’; incohaturo: the use of the future participle as a simple adjective is post- classical) et plerisque custodiri suspecta potius videbatur, (quamquam …plerisque custodiri suspecta potius videbatur: ‘although to the majority it seemed better to protect the doubtful places’) ire obviam discrimini (ire obviam discrimini: idiom, ‘to go and meet the danger’) statuit; (cum… statuit: to ease the flow of the narrative in translation, an independent clause replaces here the extended cum clause. Note that temporal cum is followed by indicative when the tense is perfect.) contractisque legionum vexillis (contractisque legionum vexillis: abl. abs., ‘[picked] detachments of the legions being assembled’) et modica auxiliorum manu, quia in aequum degredi Ordovices non audebant, ipse ante agmen, quo ceteris par animus simili periculo esset, (quo ceteris par animus simili periculo esset: ‘that thereby the rest should have the same courage in similar peril’; quo = eo ut, introduces a final clause; ceteris is dat. of possessor, as is ceteris in terrorem ceteris fore two lines down; cf. note for plus impetus felicibus, maiorem constantiam penes miseros esse in ch. 15.) erexit aciem. Caesaque prope universa gente, non ignarus (non ignarus: litotes) instandum famae (instandum famae [esse]: lit. ‘that it was to be insisted upon his [newly acquired] reputation’) ac, prout prima cessissent, terrorem ceteris fore, (prout prima cessissent, terrorem ceteris fore: lit., ‘to the extent that his first actions had succeeded, terror was going to be [instilled] to the other tribes’; prout, regularly with indicative, is here followed by subjunctive, in that the clause is within indirect discourse introduced by non ignarus. ) Monam insulam, (Monam insulam: cf. note in ch. 10.) cuius possessione revocatum Paulinum rebellione totius Britanniae supra memoravi, redigere in potestatem animo intendit. Sed, ut in subitis consiliis, naves deerant: (sed ut in subitis consiliis naves deerant: ‘but ships were not available, as was to be expected in hastily prepared plans’.) ratio et constantia ducis transvexit. Depositis omnibus sarcinis lectissimos auxiliarium, quibus nota vada et patrius nandi usus, quo (quo: ‘by means of which’) simul seque et arma et equos regunt, ita repente inmisit, ut obstupefacti hostes, qui classem, qui navis, qui mare expectabant, (qui classem, qui naves, qui mare expectabant: bold hendiadys; expectabant in place of expectarent— in relative clause of causal sense– because the clause is parenthetical, a sort of aside to inform the readers) nihil arduum aut invictum crediderint sic ad bellum venientibus. (ut…nihil arduum aut invictum [esse] crediderint sic ad bellum venientibus: ‘that they believed nothing was hard and insuperable to men coming thus to the fight’; ut is here consecutive, its correlative being sic.) Ita petita pace ac dedita insula clarus ac magnus haberi Agricola, (clarus ac magnus haberi Agricola: ‘Agricola was esteemed famous and great’; the passive haberi is infinitive of narration.) quippe cui ingredienti provinciam, quod tempus alii per ostentationem et officiorum ambitum transigunt, labor et periculum placuisset. (quippe cui…labor et periculum placuisset: ‘to whom labour and danger had naturally seemed right’; placuisset agrees with the nearest subject; quippe qui, where quippe reinforces the causal sense, introduces a rel. clause of characteristic, regularly with the subjunctive; cf. G. 626, note 1, A.G. 535 (e), and B. 283, 3.) Nec Agricola prosperitate rerum in vanitatem usus, expeditionem aut victoriam vocabat victos continuisse; (victos continuisse: the perf. inf. is direct object of vocabat, like expeditionem and victoriam, therefore here a verbal noun, ‘his having held back’) ne laureatis quidem gesta prosecutus est, (ne laureratis quidem gesta prosecutus est: ‘he did not even describe his achievements by using laurels’; literae laureatae were communiqués adorned with laurela sent to Rome to announce victory.) sed ipsa dissimulatione famae famam auxit, aestimantibus quanta futuri spe tam magna tacuisset. (aestimantibus quanta futuri spe tam magna tacuisset: ‘for those guessing with what great hopes for the future he had passed such splendid deeds under silence’.)